INM 3 Part 5

“Well, maybe she’s starting to realize it was a mistake.”

“Is it really that common? Guys hitting on her?”

“Not really from my perspective. Most of those who initially had a crush on Chloe quickly saw her as a promising future scientist once they saw her research.”

“That’s impressive.”

But it’s mostly university staff. Chloe really believes that if she suppresses her femininity, they’ll take her research seriously. Getting distracted by these superficial people is an insult to her own talent.

“I see.”

I murmured, ruffling the hair behind my ear. 

“I can sort of relate, having had my work unfairly judged for lousy reasons. I can imagine how she feels.”

Victor narrowed his eyes at my words and looked like he wanted to argue.

“But if you’re worried about Chloe as a friend, you should tell her what you just said.”

“She won’t listen to me. She’s incredibly stubborn.” the red-haired young man sulked and looked away, continuing to grumble. “I’ve told her many times, but Chloe always listens to those superficial people over me.”

“She will listen now.”

“Why?”

I was about to speak but felt my throat tighten for a moment. After hesitating, I spoke again.

“Alan died suddenly, didn’t he?’

For the first time, the piercing green gaze wavered. Intense sadness, almost ready to turn into hatred, flickered in his eyes. 

“This is something my grandmother used to say. Life is too short to focus on meaningless things.”

A sudden uneasiness washed over me and I lowered my eyes. Kasim’s words echoed loudly in my mind.

“When you give advice to someone, the person who needs it most is usually yourself.”

Ah, indeed. Every time I give advice from now on, I will remember those words like a slap on the cheek.

Deep in conversation, we had somehow descended the stairs, exited the building, and were now walking along a sunlit path. On the bright green grass, Alan might have been reading a book about robots, perhaps with his friends nearby. Now I can vividly imagine this scene. 

While I was lost in thought, Victor, who seemed to have returned to his usual demeanor, spoke up. 

“To be honest, appreciating someone’s advice goes against my principles.”

Victor sighed in exasperation. 

“I guess I have no choice but to help you out a little.”

“Um, I’ll just take your sentiment.” 

Ignoring my attempt at evasion, Victor continued arrogantly. 

“If I find anyone who seems to resent your existence, I’ll subtly observe them.”

His proposal made me nervous. I already felt guilty for investigating so much over a mere letter.

“Thank you, but really, just the feeling is enough. It’s not even certain that someone close to Alan is the culprit.”

“Maybe I made an enemy through my work”, I started to say, but Victor interrupted me with a mocking snort. He was becoming less reserved with me, which I told myself was a good sign. 

“Someone close to Alan? What are you talking about?” Victor shook his head, obviously annoyed. “The person harassing you is someone who knew Alan but wasn’t close to him… At least not on the surface. That’s obvious.”

In the end, without understanding Alan’s red-haired friend’s thoughts at all, I watched his back as he walked away. It seemed that he had already formed a picture of the sender of the letter in his mind, but he didn’t seem to want to explain it to me. 

I tore my eyes away from the two physics students and turned to the young man beside me. 

“Kasim, did you hear what you wanted to know?”

Kasim smiled and took a large step toward me. As I instinctively stepped back, he filled the space between us by coming closer. 

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“If you step back any further, you’ll hit the sign.” he said, halfway through his sentence as my back brushed against the board. His unsettling smile at close range made my own smile freeze. 

“Are you upset about something?”

“Not at all.” Kasim said, narrowing his eyes kindly. “But, Luke, what’s this about a letter?”

I froze, startled. Had he heard my conversation with Victor?

I looked around nervously.

“Uh, did you hear that?”

“Yes. Victor saved me the trouble by extracting information. I wondered what you wanted to find out.” 

“I saved you the trouble…’ I said, suddenly realizing. Did you agree to take the stairs just to listen to our conversation? 

Kasim deepened his smile. I could almost hear an inner voice sneering “You finally figured it out, you fool.” It was impressive how he managed to listen to us while seemingly engaged in a lively conversation with Chloe. 

“What a guy!”

“You brought it on yourself. What were those terribly awkward questions?”

“Wait a minute, you have no right to say that to me.” 

Ignoring my words, Kasim moved closer to me. 

“Why didn’t you tell me about the letter before? I thought it was strange that you were afraid of the university.”

“Well, it has nothing to do with the letter… and getting a letter is nothing to write home about.” 

“Even if your life is threatened? You didn’t report it to the police, did you?”

“What part of the story did you hear?”

Thrown off by another alarming statement, I looked around nervously. Fortunately, the sight of a cool blond man, cornered and nervous, didn’t seem to attract much attention. A woman with a book under her arm walked by without looking in our direction. 

Still, I lowered my voice and continued. 

“I’m not being targeted. I just got an anonymous letter saying they don’t like me.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

With my confident reply, the intense blue gaze softened slightly.

I see. What exactly did the letter say?

“Uh, things like “die” and “I’ll kill you”…” 

Kasim’s blue eyes immediately widened.

“Luke!”

“What? I told you at the beginning, I only cooperate for my own purpose!”

“That’s not what I’m talking about!”

With a stern rebuke, Kasim ran a hand through his mane-like hair. He really did resemble my old school friend at moments like this.

When his face came to me, I remembered that I wanted to talk to him soon.

“Oh, right. Can I make a quick phone call?”

“In the middle of this conversation?! You’re pretty free spirited, aren’t you?”

Though stunned, the young man quietly moved away from me. Halfway through, he turned and warned, “Don’t get out of my sight!” and sat down on a bench a little farther away. Well, I guess that’s what good parenting looks like. 

Impressed, I tapped the desired name in my call history. After an unusually long ring for him, a slightly agitated Brian answered. 

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Brian. No, sorry. Nothing special, but…”

Come to think of it, this was my first phone call to him since the day we were reunited. 

Feeling uncomfortable inviting a close friend, I continued. 

“Uh… I wanted to talk. When can we meet next?”

“If you want to talk, I’ll come by tonight.”

“You kind-hearted fool. If you do, you’ll be spending another night on my sofa.” I laughed into the phone. “I’m worried about your back, so let’s make it another day.” 

“It would be faster if you let me use your bedroom.”

“My bedroom is off-limits, even to a close friend… Do you still have my schedule that you took the other day?”

“Yes.”

“Can you let me know when is a good day later?”

“Got it… By the way, you’re supposed to be in a meeting in the office right now. Why are you outside?”

His words made me jump up and look around.

“Eagle ears!”

Laughing at my scream, Brian replied, “Hurry home.” and hung up. I guess he thought I was out shopping. It seemed he hadn’t found out about my information gathering at the university, so I was relieved for now.

As I shoved the device into my pocket and looked up, I saw Kasim, who had gotten up from the bench, walking toward me.

“It’s done now.”

He nodded, looked away from me slightly, and began to speak. “Hi, Ethan. Thanks for taking the time today.”

A rather stunned sound escaped my lips. At the same time, I felt something move just behind my left shoulder. Before I could think, my body turned toward the sensation… and I almost screamed. My vision was filled with pectorals wrapped in a deep navy shirt, and I instinctively leaned back.

“Uh, Ethan… hi.”

I looked up to meet his gaze and managed to put on a social smile. His stiff, straight red hair, sun-kissed skin, and well-defined jawline. His eyes, peering through slightly puffy eyelids, wavered in confusion.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you… I didn’t see you on the phone.”

“Haha, yeah, right!”

Driven by a strange sense of duty, I laughed at the weak voice coming from deep in my throat. When I looked over my shoulder for help, Kasim was frowning slightly and watching Ethan with a wary eye. He didn’t seem interested in helping me calm the interrogator.

“Ah. It wasn’t an important conversation, so don’t worry about it.”

Having given up on reinforcements, I tried to create a friendly atmosphere on my own. Ethan, still looking uncertain, met my gaze.

“But the bedroom…”

“No!”

Of all the words to say, he had to choose the most difficult. When I jumped in surprise, Kasim gave me a cold look.

“You interrupted my serious conversation to make a phone call about…”

“It was just a friendly joke!”

Although my words were one hundred percent true, Kasim narrowed his eyes even more. 

“I don’t mind who you express your feelings to, but don’t you think there’s a time and a place for it? And if I may say so, Luke, using a word like “bedroom” directly is a little too blunt for someone who is less than a lover.”

“Hey, you should trust me a little more.”

After voicing my perfectly reasonable protest to Kasim, I turned my eyes back to Ethan, who was quietly looking down at us. To me, he looked like a simple and shy student. He was different from the impression Alan had given me. According to Alan, he was the kind of person who would get upset about a commission fee, have peculiar reading preferences, and suddenly start talking about the definition of red hair. Alan had painted a picture of a very human and interesting character. Maybe he just takes a little longer to open up to people.

Ethan led us to the classroom with a surprisingly elegant stride. The building looked modern, with one wall made entirely of glass, seemingly recently constructed. Near the automatic doors was a modest sign that read “Department of Informatics and Information Science Research Institute”.

We passed through the rather ordinary entrance with marble floors and black sofas and entered a small empty classroom at the back of the first floor. It was a small, somewhat white classroom that could hold fifteen people at most. Ethan and Kasim quickly rearranged the desks and chairs into a group of three facing each other. Following their example, I sat down next to Kasim.

A silence soon fell. It was Kasim who broke the silence.

“Once again, thank you for your time today, Ethan.”

He spoke in a sincere voice. The wary expression he had shown earlier had completely vanished, replaced with his usual friendly smile that suited his white linen shirt. He continued in a careful, considerate manner.

“I mentioned it in my message, but I would appreciate it if you could tell us about Alan.”

At Kasim’s words, Ethan, behind his heavy red bangs, lowered his already downcast eyes even further.

“What… Why do you even want to know…?”

“Because I want to come to terms with his death in my own way.” 

“Is there really a need to deal with the death of a high school classmate you weren’t even close to…”